The
Council of Jerusalem is generally dated to 48 AD, roughly 15 to 25 years after the
crucifixion of Jesus, between
26 and 36 AD.
Acts and
Galatians both suggest that the meeting was called to debate whether male Gentiles who were converting to become followers of Jesus were required to become
circumcised; the rite of circumcision was considered execrable and repulsive during the period of
Hellenization of the
Eastern Mediterranean and was especially adversed in
Classical civilization both from
ancient Greeks and
Romans, which instead valued the
foreskin positively. Many ancient people in these cultures used
epispasm to restore their foreskins so as to not stand out amongst the Hellenists. The inclusion of Gentiles into early Christianity posed a problem for the Jewish identity of some of the early Christians: the new Gentile converts were not required to be circumcised nor to observe the Mosaic Law. Paul insisted that
faith in
Christ (see also
Faith or Faithfulness) was sufficient for
salvation, therefore the Mosaic Law was not binding for the Gentiles.
New Testament In the
New Testament, the Judaizers were a group of Jewish Christians who insisted that their co-religionists should follow the Mosaic Law and that Gentile converts to
Christianity must first be circumcised (i.e. become Jewish through the ritual of a proselyte).
Circumcision controversy :
The Apostle Paul, circa 1657 (
National Gallery of Art,
Washington, D.C.) Paul, who called himself "Apostle to the Gentiles", criticised the practice of circumcision, perhaps as an entrance into the
New Covenant of Jesus. In the case of
Timothy, whose mother was a Jewish Christian but whose father was a Greek, Paul personally circumcised him "because of the Jews" that were in town. Some believe that he appeared to praise its value in , yet later in Romans 2 we see his point. In he also disputes the value of circumcision. Paul made his case to the Christians at Rome that circumcision no longer meant the physical, but a spiritual practice. Later Paul more explicitly denounced the practice, Paul warned that the advocates of circumcision as a condition of salvation were "false brothers". and of glorying or boasting of the flesh.
Baur, Schwanbeck,
De Wette, Davidson, Mayerhoff,
Schleiermacher,
Bleek, Krenkel, and others have opposed the authenticity of the Acts; an objection is drawn from the discrepancy between and . Some believe that Paul wrote the entire
Epistle to the Galatians attacking circumcision, saying in chapter five: "Behold, I Paul say unto you, if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing." The division between the Jews who followed the Mosaic Law and were circumcised and the Gentiles who were uncircumcised was highlighted in his Epistle to the Galatians:
Extra-biblical sources "Judaizer" occurs once in
Josephus' Jewish War 2.18.2, referring to the
First Jewish–Roman War (66–73), written around 75: It occurs once in the
Apostolic Fathers collection, in
Ignatius's letter to the Magnesians 10:3 written around 100: Judaizing teachers are strongly condemned in the
Epistle of Barnabas. (Although it did not become part of the
Christian Biblical canon, it was widely circulated among Christians in the first two centuries and is part of the
Apostolic Fathers.) Whereas Paul acknowledged that the Law of Moses and its observance were good when used correctly ("the law is good, if one uses it lawfully", ), the Epistle of Barnabas condemns most Jewish practices, claiming that Jews had grossly misunderstood and misapplied the Law of Moses.
Justin Martyr (about 140) distinguishes two kinds of Jewish Christians: those who observe the Law of Moses but do not require its observance of others—with these he would hold
communion—and those who believe the Mosaic law to be obligatory on all, whom he considers heretics (
Dialogue with Trypho 47). The
Council of Laodicea of around 365 decreed 59 laws, #29: According to
Eusebius'
History of the Church 4.5.3-4: the first 15
Bishops of Jerusalem were "of the circumcision", although this in all likelihood is simply stating that they were Jewish Christians (as opposed to Gentile Christians), and that they observed
biblical circumcision and thus likely the rest of Torah as well. The eight homilies
Adversus Judaeos ("against the Jews") of
John Chrysostom (347–407) deal with the relationship between Christians, Jews and Judaizers. The influence of the Judaizers in the church diminished significantly after the
destruction of Jerusalem, when the Jewish-Christian community at Jerusalem was dispersed by the Romans during the First Jewish–Roman War. The Romans also dispersed the Jewish leadership in
Jerusalem in 135 during the
Bar Kokhba Revolt. Traditionally it is believed the
Jerusalem Christians waited out the
Jewish–Roman wars in
Pella in the
Decapolis. These setbacks, however, did not necessarily mean an end to Jewish Christianity, any more than
Valerian's Massacre of 258, (when he killed all Christian bishops, presbyters, and deacons, including
Pope Sixtus II and
Antipope Novatian and
Cyprian of Carthage), meant an end to
Roman Christianity. , sculpture in the
Cathedral of Chartres The Latin verb is used once in the
Vulgate where the Greek verb
ioudaizein occurs at Galatians 2:14.
Augustine in his
Commentary on Galatians, describes Paul's opposition in Galatia as those
qui gentes cogebant iudaizare – "who thought to make the Gentiles live in accordance with Jewish customs." Christian groups following Jewish practices never completely vanished, although they had been designated as
heretical by the
5th century. ==Later history==